Turner County herald. (Hurley, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1887-07-07
A BLOODY MEMORY.
A Visit to the Scene Of the Massacre
of General Clusters Com
mand.
Incidents of the Terrible Affair." In
dians Say Sitting Bull Was
Not Present.

MOI pFcSeuts
have just returned from the field
where Custer fell, writes j. M. T., in
the New York IForid. There can
hardly be q sadder, lonelier, or more
dreary-looking spot in all the United
States. A worn and weather-beaten
monument crowns the highest point OF
the battlefield. The shaft is rapidly
tlisintegrating under the combined in
hnences of burning sun, driving rains,
winter storms and whitening winds.
This part of the valley of the Little
Eorn kivcr, which was the scene OF
the disaster of une ., 1876, is about
fourteen m les above Fort Custer, on
the right and left banks of the clear
Lesser Horn, as it winds down through
the valley from the ig Horn range.
1t was hap-hazard selection for a
battle-ground, and slightly more favor
able to the soldiers than TO the red men,
otherwise, instead of Maj. Reno and his
handful of men escaping after ter
ribly close conflict, in which defeat
meant annihilation and nothing else,
not one man would have been lett alive
to tell the terrible story of that dread
full June day. / have had exceptional
opportunities for arriving at the truth
concerning the massacre, and / am
convinced that neither the reds nor
the whites knew what they were about
when the battle was begun. General
Custer knew that a large and power
full Indian village was over in the Lit
tie Horn Valley somewhere, and he
determined, with rare pluck though
extreme rashness, to attack that vii
lage in his usual pell-mell stTle, de-
pending upon dash and discipline to
carry him through in spite of the force
of numbers opposed to him. Custer
made his first mistake when he divided
his forces. With less than $40 men he
attempted to do what would have re-
quired four or five regiments united
and in mass. Even with all his force
together and making swoop down
upon the great village the chances
were q hundred to one that he would
be whipped anyhow, and badly, too.
The Indian camp was on the left
side of the Little Horn River, extend
J ing up and down the stream, in a
| lovely, fertile bottom, covered with
rich heritage and luxuriaut grasses,
and occupying an area fully three miles
in length by half a mile in width.
When one considers the size of this
camp, close packed with lodges, tepees
and wickiups, he can form some idea
of the population it contained. 1t must
be remembered, too, that every red.
skin in tribe-bucks, squaws, boys,
maidens, and all except the papooses
does his or her level best at fighting
when attacked by the enemy. So il
was with Sitting Bulls village in the
Little Horn Valley. When the brave
cavalry leader swept down on the In
dia s with his usual dash and elan, he
was not checked by bullets or arrows
no want of courage caused him to pause
or falter, but simply mass Of numbers
got in his way, beat him BACK step by
step, notwithstanding the 1eaden hail
poured into the savages from the cav.
airy carbines, and finally overpowered
and killed every white man after the
ammunition of the latter had been ex.
hausted. Clusters men fought all they
could, fired shot after shot with telling
effect, but all to no purpose.
| Indians who were in that fight have
told me some strange stories. Sitting
Bull was not in the fight at all. Gall
was the big chief and generalissimo of
the day, and while he was leading the
bucks and directing the engagement
old Tonka-te-Tonka (Sitting Bulb was
back in his medicine lodge making
medicine. AS the Indians won and
Sitting Bull made the medicine he, of
course, got all the credit for the VIC
tory. One of the Indians says that the
shells got stuck in the white mems
carbines, and when those weapons were
thus rendered useless as firearms the
| poor fellows, pressed to the wall and
overpowered ten to one, dubbed their
guns and fought desperately, with
death staring them in the face, until
the last doomed man fell in his tracks.
When the ammunition was exhausted
the Indians walked up, knocked them
down with clubs and butciiered them
with hatchets. Gall told me that the
main object of his young men was Ito
stampede the horses, which carried the
saddle-pockets in which each soldier
had stored his ammunition. The
troopers had, perhaps, fifty rounds
apiece on their persons, but the
main supply was in the saddle-b bags,
being entirely too heavy to carry
on the body. In all, the soldiers were
supplied with about 200 rounds per
man for the fight. When the cavalry
men were dismounted to fight on foot
one soldier was detailed to hold every
eight horses. Gall says he quickly saw
the advantage to be gained could the
horses laden with ammunition be STAN
peded, so he devised plan to that
end. He sent score or two of Young
bucks up ravine to the rear, and
these embroyo warriors, unmindful OF
flying lead and the danger of the job,
suddenly rose up with yells and shouts
Just in front of the horses, swung their
blankets wildly in the air, and every
steed in the outfit broke loose from the
holders and scampered down the ra.
vine toward the Little Horn, where
they were gathered in by the suuaws
and old men, on the wait for Just what
had occurred. Many of the Indians
were armed with cavalry carbines and
United States muskets, SO this very
ammunition was turned against CusteIl
and his men, and no doubt had very
much to do with deciding the fortunes
of the day.
Another Indian says that one soldier
the last survivor of his slain comrades
when he saw that the day was lost an6
his only chance of life lay in flight
turned down the same ravine where
the horses had gone before him, in the
hopes of escaping, But it was of nc
use. He was getting along very vel
and might have escaped, as nobody
was following him, when suddenly he
came face to face with dozen buck.
who We're coming up the ravinc il
search of stragglers. Up one side O.
the steep incline he shot with all hi.
remaining strength, but it was too late
the Indians were after him. With the
calmness of despair he seated him OF
the bank, drew his revolver, and wher
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